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WGEN
WGEN-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, is an Estrella TV owned-and-operated television station licensed to Key West, Florida, United States. Owned by Liberman Broadcasting, it is a sister station to Miami-licensed low-power station WVFW-LD (channel 34). WGEN-TV's studios are located on Northwest 75th Street in Miami's Medley neighborhood, and its transmitter is located on Southard Street in Key West. WGEN's signal is relayed through a network of seven low-power translator stations throughout South Florida and the Florida Keys. History The station first signed on the air on May 26, 1996 as WWFD. During the 1990s, the station broadcast in Portuguese with programming aimed at the area's Brazilian population. Channel 8 subsequently changed its call letters to WWTU on February 8, 2000, then to WVIB on February 8, 2002 and finally to its current calls as WGEN-TV on July 1, 2004. Prior to December 2005, WGEN was, under the ownership of Sonia Broadcasting, co-owned with another Key West station, WDLP-TV (channel 22, now WSBS-TV). In December 2005, WGEN came under the control of Colombian broadcaster Caracol Televisión, which holds a 25% ownership stake in Mapale LLC, the maximum allowed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding foreign ownership of terrestrial stations. On September 18, 2006, Caracol relaunched the station under the "GenTV" brand and began serving as its primary program supplier; programming on WGEN included Colombian and Brazilian telenovelas, a Colombian-produced news program (Noticias Caracol), and a local version of Desafío 20.06, a reality show similar to Survivor. On December 28, 2012 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, MundoFox moved its Miami affiliation from WJAN-CD (channel 41) to WGEN-TV. While WGEN-TV is owned and operated by and airs programming from the Colombian television network Caracol Televisión, as a MundoFox affiliate, it shares an indirect connection with another Colombian television network as the network was initially half-owned by the competing RCN Televisión; in June 2015, RCN Televisión acquired Fox's stake on MundoFox and decided to rebrand the network as MundoMax on August 13 of that same year. RCN content came from the network feed of MundoMax, while Caracol programming is distributed directly to WGEN-TV through Mapale LLC. WGEN-TV formerly aired national newscasts from MundoFox through Noticias MundoFox, which used the resources of NTN24, RCN’s sister network and international Spanish-language news channel (MundoFox ended its national newscasts in July 2015, after RCN purchasing the network); WGEN-TV also aired Caracol's national newscast Noticias Caracol. On December 1, 2016, WGEN-TV became an affiliate of Azteca América. In November 2017, Azteca América returned to its previous affiliate in the market, WPMF-CD (channel 38); WGEN-TV then returned to the "GenTV" branding and an independent lineup reliant on Caracol programming. On January 5, 2018, Radio & Television Business Report reported that Mapale LLC was in the process of filing an application to sell WGEN-TV to Liberman Broadcasting; following the sale, the station would become an owned-and-operated station of Estrella TV, restoring a full-market outlet for the network after its previous affiliate, the second digital subchannel of WSVN (channel 7), switched to Light TV on July 14, 2017. Liberman confirmed the purchase on January 8, 2018, and announced that the station would join Estrella TV on March 1 under a 'soft launch' period The sale was completed on March 16, 2018, officially becoming "Estrella TV Canal 8". Category:Estrella TV affiliates stations Category:Channel 8 Category:Key West Category:Miami Category:Fort Lauderdale Category:Florida Category:Former independent stations Category:Former Network One affiliates Category:Former MundoFox/MundoMax Affiliates Category:Former Azteca América affiliates Category:1996 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1996 Category:Liberman Broadcasting Category:VHF Category:Florida Spanish Stations Category:2000 Category:2002 Category:2004